Review of Further Education Colleges Widening Participation Strategic Assessments (2009)

Review of Further Education Colleges’ Widening Participation Strategic Assessments (2009)

Contents

Executive Summary

1. Report Introduction

2. Analytical Approach

3. Widening Participation Strategy and Institutional Approach

4. Widening Participation Practice

5. The Level of Resource Committed to Widening Participation in Higher Education

6. Conclusion

7. Acknowledgements

8. Glossary

Executive Summary

About the Review

In 2009 every English higher education institution (HEI) was requested to submit a Widening Participation Strategic Assessment (WPSA) to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Further education colleges (FECs) with more than 100 full-time equivalent directly-funded higher education (HE) students were also required to submit a WPSA with HEFCE advising that “the scale of the higher education provision should be reflected in the detail”.

Colleges were asked to report on four topics:

• The commitment to widening participation
• The college’s overall aims for widening participation, what it hopes to achieve in three years and how this will be measured
• A list of activities designed to widen participation in HE
• The levels of resource committed to widening participation.

Action on Access, the national widening participation co-ordination team, undertook a thematic review of the 129 WPSAs prepared by HEIs. This complementary report on the FEC WPSAs provides a descriptive overview of the ways in which colleges were approaching widening participation in their HEprovision in 2009 and what their plans were for the next three years. Some use has been made of NVivo software to interrogate the WPSAs using particular themes and searches for key phrases, but the report also depends on a sampling of the WPSAs. The aim is to identify effective practice and to highlight the particular and distinctive approaches of colleges to widening participation in HE. The report is based on the 83 WPSAs submitted by FECs to HEFCE.

Findings from the Review

The Commitment to Widening Participation

1. There is evidence of a high level of commitment to widening participation in HE as part of overall college missions, with a focus on inclusion and equality of opportunity for all and at all levels, and in serving the needs of local communities and employers.

1. Widening participation is addressed in institutional HE strategies. Whilst few FECs have a separate widening participation to HE strategy, there is extensive reference to a range of whole-institution policies and HE policies identified as supporting widening participation.

1. The organisational arrangements to support widening participation tend to be dispersed throughout FEC structures and processes. Responsibility for widening participation does rest with a few named individuals but is widely dispersed across the institution in teaching and service areas with high levels of functional integration to support access and progression for FE and HE students,. Many FECs have a HE manager, or similar post, which plays a co-ordinating role with regard to widening participation, providing cross-college management and coherence with regard to the HE student experience. There is evidence of separate organisational arrangements and specific roles and responsibilities for employer engagement to foster development around curriculum and other services and engage work-based learners.

1. The FEC WPSAs give only a partial view of FEC HE provision. Smaller colleges were not required to report and colleges with only indirectly-funded HE were exempt. The request for WPSAs also did not include reporting on the significant amount of higher-level education delivered by colleges which is funded from other sources, such as, at the time, the Learning and Skills Council, in addition to direct HEFCE funding.

Overall Aims for Widening Participation,Targets for Achievement in the Next Three Years and How This Will Be Measured

1. FECs tend to see, and therefore describe, the majority of their provision and related support activitiesas contributing to widening participation. Data on student profiles confirm that colleges are successful in attracting a high proportion of students to HE from under-represented social groups, including national target groups. The definitions used in the WPSAs to describe the current student profile and future target groups in relation to widening participation are, however, very broad and include part-time and work-based students, mature students, those recruited from local schools, ethnic minorities, disabled students and those variously described as from disadvantaged backgrounds, ‘widening participation postcode’ areas and low-participation neighbourhoods. Not all of these groups are specific target groups for general widening participation activity in their own right as defined within the HEFCE guidance on targeting. Nor is it clear from the WPSAs how the needs of the groups identified by FECs relate to the broader issue of under-representation from lower socio-economic groups and disadvantaged socio-economic areas. This suggests there is scope for the HEFCE guidance on targeting widening participation activity to be more rigorously applied in FECs.

1. Most colleges provided information about their targets for the next three years relating to attracting particular social groups, and undertaking widening participation activities. Much target-setting and development work focuses strongly around seeking to increase the number of students from groups already studying at the college. The WPSAs contain very little information regarding arrangements for monitoring and evaluating the impact of widening participation activities.

1. Colleges do not have access to suitable external benchmarking data for widening participation in HE in FE. The availability of such data may assist FECs with their target setting, monitoring and evaluation. Consideration should also be given to publishing data on student profiles linked to widening participation indicators, such as social class and post-code areas,which is collected through the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). This would provide a better understanding of HEin FE student profiles and the contribution of FECs to widening participation.

Activities Designed to Widen Participation in Higher Education

1. Using the WPSAs to systematically identify the particular and distinctive approaches of colleges to widening participation compared to HEIs is difficult due to variations in the range and depth of information provided and in the use of evidence to substantiate the assessment. Nevertheless, a number of areas are highlighted in the WPSAs which, although relating to processes common to many HE providers, indicate ways in which colleges have developed distinctive approaches which contribute to widening participation. These include, for example, active community engagement, working with employers to engage local work-based learners, and developing approaches to admissions which recognise a broad range of prior learning as acceptable for entry to HEand provide high levels of individual advice and guidance prior to entry. There are also strong focusses onmonitoring student progress,and developing teaching and learning approaches and student services which recognise the needs of underrepresented groups.

1. FECshave a developed range of strategies to facilitate widening participation: work with Aimhigher and Lifelong Learning Networks (LLNs); outreach activities with local schools; the development of progression agreements and entitlements; the development of student support services; varied direct and indirect engagement with employers; the development of curriculum and new provision including Foundation Degrees; flexible and blended provision including delivering smaller units of learning, part-time study opportunities, distance learning through information learning technologies, bridging courses, accredited and non-accredited taster courses; and non-standard entry including accreditation of prior and experiential learning. There is widespread commitment to ensuring that widening participation is linked to the student lifecycle, to learning and teaching approaches and to student support. Most FECs refer to work to improve internal progression from Level 3 to their HE courses.

1. FECs have a strong history and tradition of very varied partnership working with local schools, other colleges, HEIs, employers, sector skills councils and other stakeholders. It is clear that LLNs have provided effective frameworks through which many colleges have developed and extended local and regional partnership working to widen participation over the past few years.

1. Colleges have embraced the development of new curriculum and qualification types, for example Foundation Degrees, and new modes of delivery to engage students and meet local needs. These developments have enabled the development of new curricula in collaboration with employers, facilitating engagement with part-time work-based learners, as well as with younger students attracted to vocational study.

1. The level of information in the WPSAs relating to admissions policies and processes is varied but demonstrates use of accreditation of experiential learning for entry and progression for those without traditional qualifications, a willingness to recognise learning from a broad range of qualification types as acceptable entry criteria to HE, and a holistic approach to selection. Fees policies have also been used to support admissions, with several colleges keeping fees to the minimum level in an explicit attempt to maintain student participation and many others setting fee levels above the minimum which are, nevertheless, sensitive to the potential impact of higher fees on student applications.

The Level of Resource Committed to Widening Participation

1. The WPSAs indicate that resources allocated to widening participation activities are derived from a variety of funding sources, including, but not limited to, HEFCE funding.

1. Colleges interpreted the request for information on resource allocation for widening participation in different ways and responded with a variety of methodological analyses and levels of detail. The diversity of responses may in part be linked to confusion about which funding sources should be reported on in a complex funding environment with high levels of commitment to social inclusion and progression for all students, as well as the difficulties of disaggregating expenditure on services that have widening participation as only one of their purposes.

1. Report Introduction

In 2009 every English higher education institution (HEI) was requested to submit a Widening Participation Strategic Assessment (WPSA) to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Further education colleges (FECs) with more than 100 full-time equivalent directly-funded higher education (HE) students were also required to submit a WPSA, with HEFCE advising that “the scale of the HE provision should be reflected in the detail”. HEFCE saw the WPSAs as allowing colleges to expand on their Access Agreements “to provide a more comprehensive account of their commitment to, and success in, widening participation.”

Colleges were asked to report on four topics:

• The commitment to widening participation
• The college’s overall aims for widening participation, what it hopes to achieve in three years and how this will be measured
• A list of activities designed to widen participation in HE
• The level of resource committed to widening participation.

All the WPSAs submitted by FECs addressed these four topics though the level of detail and amount of information provided in the WPSAs is varied. Some colleges supplied multiple documents to support the assessment, including a range of policies and strategies relating to equality and diversity, teaching and learning, curriculum and admissions. In other cases, only a single WPSA document was submitted. The WPSA documents also vary in the depth of analysis provided and in the use of evidence to substantiate the assessment.

A total of 83 colleges submitted WPSAs. This does not reflect the totality of HE in FE provision (estimated at around 10% of all non-postgraduate student numbersaccording to College Key Facts 2011, published by the Association of Colleges, see Colleges with only indirectly-funded HE were also exempt, although information regarding indirect provision (e.g. through ‘franchise’ arrangements with universities) was included in HEI responses. The request for WPSAs also did not include reporting on the significant amount of higher-level education delivered by colleges funded from other sources, such as, at the time, the Learning and Skills Council, in addition to direct HEFCE funding. The report, therefore, cannot give a completely full picture of HE provision and widening participation in the college sector as this could only be obtained by considering all provision, however funded and irrespective of scale.

It is recognised that in the time since the WPSAs were submitted in 2009 a very different landscape has emerged and is still unfolding. For example, major changes are being made to funding with cuts in public funding for teaching and the raising of the ceiling for tuition fees to £9,000 a year. The recently published White Papercontains many proposalsrelating to funding, student numbers and regulation, aimed at creating a diverse and competitive higher education system. The White Paper recognises the strengths of FECs in reaching out to non-traditional learners and contains proposals to implement measures which may allow colleges to expand their higher education numbers It is not clear what impact these, and other changes, will have on widening participation and on the providers of higher education. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this topic briefing will provide a helpful overview for FECs and other stakeholders as they work their way into and through the new environment.

The recent WPSA monitoring reports submitted to HEFCE in January 2011, requesting the same information from FECs as from HEIs, may provide further insight into practice and monitoring and how this has developed since 2009 and enable comparisons across HE providers.

2. Analytical Approach

Action on Access undertook a thematic review of the 129 WPSAs prepared by HEIs[1]. This complementary report on the FEC WPSAs provides a descriptive overview of the ways in which colleges were approaching widening participation in their HE provision in 2009 and what their plans were for the next three years. The aim of the FEC review was to identify effective practice and to highlight the particular and distinctive approaches of colleges to widening participation in HE.

NVivo software was used to interrogate the FEC WPSAs using searches for key words and phrases associated with particular themes. The relevant extracts generated from the search were read together to elicit information across the FEC WPSAs and provide an indication of the frequency of reference to particular issues in the documents. Further analysis was then undertaken on a sample of 38 submissions to gain a deeper understanding of themes and pursue additional lines of enquiry that were identified through the NVivo search and reading of the FEC WPSAs. The sample was selected to reflect the geographical distribution of colleges and the relative size of HE provision. However, the analysis did not systematically compare regions or relative sizeof HE provision.

Seventy-eight FEC WPSAs were included in the NVivo analysis which focused on the WPSA statements and did not interrogate any of the additional supporting documents submitted. Four of the original college submissions could not be incorporated into the NVivo analysis process because of technical difficulties. One college did not submit a WPSA document but sent a number of existing strategies, policies and other documents. The additional sampling process of 38 submissions which was also used in the analysis made use of all documents supplied where appropriate.

3. Widening Participation Strategy and Institutional Approach

3.1. Commitment to and Understanding of Widening Participation

In explaining their approach to widening participation, FECs make frequent reference to their mission statements, corporate plans and core values. The concept of widening participation is often linked to inclusion and equal opportunity. Providing progression opportunities for all learners, not just HE students, is regarded as being at the core of colleges’ missions and inseparable from the college values. The following examples are extracted from introductory statements in WPSAs submitted by colleges of varying size and in different geographical locations:

“[X] College is an inclusive college. Widening participation is at the core of our activity. We aim to increase participation across the full range of ability, social background, ethnicity, gender and age, thereby enhancing life chances for all.”

“There is no separate widening participation strategy for the institution since widening participation is fully integrated and embedded within all aspects of the institution and is fully aligned to the vision and mission of the institution, institutional policies and strategies.”

In general, mission statements reflect the aim of colleges to serve and support local communities through the provision of education and training at all levels and the desire to inspire people to take up such opportunities. Although direct references to in/exclusion and disadvantage are not common in college mission statements, widening participation is interpreted in the WPSAs as being integral to college aims and there are extensive references to helping individuals meet their potential and fulfil their aspirations. The following examples are from college mission statements:

“[X] College believes in the power of education to make a difference to people’s lives and to the achievement of their full potential.”

“Our mission: outstanding learning which develops skills, raises aspirations and changes lives.”

Awareness of mission in relation to geographical place is common to all FECs. College mission statements and corporate strategic plans frequently state their commitment to providing for and serving local/regional community and employer needs. For instance:

“[X] College will be proactive in the economic and social development of the region, working in partnership to provide access to high quality education and skills training to meet the needs of individuals, employers and the wider community.”

“To provide the highest quality education and training that is inclusive, matches and supports the needs of our diverse learners and the local and regional economy.”

“We are at the heart of the community, committed to helping all individuals meet their potential and fulfil their aspirations through the development of learning and skills, and to the social and economic advancement of the whole community.”

Most colleges see their FE and HE programmes as already delivering to under-represented or disadvantaged students, whether in the community or the work place. The analysis of student profiles presented in the WPSAs supports this. Whilst some colleges do demonstrate good awareness of national widening participation targets and make direct reference to these in their analyses and planning, most WPSAs present an interpretation of widening participation understood in terms of a broad definition of under-representation and embracing a variety of social groups. Not all of these groups are specific target groups in their own right as defined in the HEFCE guidance on targeting disadvantaged learners[2]. For example, the proportions of ethnic minorities, disabled students, mature, work-based and part-time students, as well as those from areas of social and economic disadvantage, that comprise the current student profile are frequently cited as evidence of success in widening participation.